Strive towards our GOAL

Rajesh PatelPresidentGreetings to all!First of all I would like to thank all those who sent me congratulatory messages for my victory in the Fiji FA presidential elections I’ve received calls from well wishes from family members, friends in Fiji and abroad and also from the soccer loving public.That showed the faith people had faith in my leadership and I promised to continue in office for another term, for the betterment of football in the country.I would also like to thank all affiliated Fiji FA districts for their support and voting me to lead them for another four years.For those districts which have not voted me due to their personal agenda, I’ve assured you that I will not leave or victimise you all for the betterment of football.”I urge all districts to work hand-in-hand to move Fiji Football in a new direction.Secondly I would like to congratulate Ba for winning the 2015 Courts IDC title and winning the most prestigious title for 24 years.To the Nadi team you have nothing to lose as you displayed competitive football in the final. The players played with a courageous heart despite the vocal crowd.Congratulations to Navua Football for winning the senior division title, Kamil Muslim College for retaining the secondary schools and Labasa Primary School for winning the Primary School title.I would also like to thank our sponsors Courts (Fiji) Limited for their continued support in sponsoring the tournament for 16 consecutive years. Also a big vinaka vakalevu to Minister for Local Government, Housing, Environment, Infrastructure and Transport, Praveen Kumar Bala for being chief quest! Despite being busy he was at Subrail Park, Labasa, then to Prince Charles Park, Nadi and Govind Park in Ba. Police officers will be at all venues along with security officers who are present at all venues, Fiji FA headquaters staff members and Ba Academy staff members and the local media and those whom I may have missed out.Thirdly I would like to welcome former Australian star striker Frank Farina as our national coach and mentoring officer. Frank is not new to Fiji as he has guided our Vodafone Fijian Under-20 team to the historic FIFA U20 World Cup.Fiji FA board had decided to move in a new direction and what success we had we could not be complacent and to appoint someone that could take Fiji Football national teams to greater heights and Frank did wonderful job during the U20 World Cup and th eBoard felt that after the non-renewal of Carlos Buzetti’s contract, the advertisement of new coach was done and Frank applied and the board unanimously agreed to appoint him.I would also like to thank Buzzetti for his contribution towards the development of football in the country. Buzzetti has done a lot for the betterment of sports in the Fiji and I wish him all the best in his endeavor.” Finally as we have been saying we are doing our best to improve our FIFA rankings and now we have programmes lined-up with talks are undergoing for more international matches for various national teams. As the FIFA window approaches we will try and get more matches and we have approached some countries and are hopeful for a positive outcome.Our senior national team will be marching into camp next week under our new national coach Frank Farina and they will be playing Vanuatu and Solomon Islands next month in a friendly encounter.We are doing all we can do to arrange international matches for our national teams especially our Vodafone U23 team before they participate in the Rio Olympics next year.We will strive towards our goal and that is our objective.

About FIJI FA

Fiji was among the founding members of OFC along with Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. The nation of around 800,000 has traditionally been one of Oceania best performers – second only to New Zealand in the FIFA rankings for men. The Fiji Football Association (FFA) nurtures hopes of one day toppling the giants in Oceania and qualifying for a FIFA finals competition.